Sam Twiston-Davies holds the trophy after victory on Little Josh in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Photograph: Neil Tingle/PA

Nigel Twiston-Davies talked about the added responsibility that comes with putting your son up to ride in a big race after the Paddy Power Gold Cup here today, and did so with such excitement and pride that it was clear the sense of reward is magnified too. Little Josh, with 18-year-old Sam Twiston-Davies in the saddle, had just jumped and galloped a strong field into submission under a perfectly-judged front-running ride, prompting the trainer to say that "I hope they can both go right to the top".

Twiston-Davies's last winner of this race was in 2008 with Imperial Commander, who took the Gold Cup at last season's Festival, but as one of the lower-rated runners today, Little Josh has a good deal further to travel. He is a strapping chaser with a grand attitude, though, and while he started as an outsider at 20-1, the only real concern as he turned for home with a healthy lead over Long Run and Dancing Tornado was that his jockey might have burned up too much energy too soon.

Instead, he had gauged it to the stride, and while Dancing Tornado was closing at the line, Twiston-Davies had just enough left to hold him off by two-and-three-quarter lengths. Long Run, the uneasy favourite, was third after making several minor jumping errors.

"For an 18-year-old and two weeks to come out and kick him into every fence like that, it takes some balls," Twiston-Davies senior said. "Some people would say that you can never make all round there, but he did and he did it beautifully. He jumped from fence to fence and those were some pretty impressive leaps he was asking for. When they're front-running like that you think, 'Will they last? Will they last?' But the boy knows more than I do.

"The responsibility when it's your son riding is so much more. I feel it terribly, you put your boy on the horse, people are kind enough to let him ride them and then you think, if he mucks up, I'll feel responsible. But when it goes right, there's absolutely nothing better."

Little Josh is owned by Tony Bloom, the chairman of League One leaders Brighton & Hove Albion, who had travelled to Hartlepool to see his team attempt to record the best start to a season in their history. But they lost 3-1, denying Bloom a dream double.

The eight-year-old is now likely to return to Cheltenham for a valuable handicap at the December meeting when he and his jockey – who will keep the keep the ride, according to the trainer – will attempt to take another step up the ladder.

The Triumph Hurdle market can be highly volatile in the early part of the season, but Sam Winner put down an impressive marker in the opening race. It was run over the Old course, but was otherwise a useful trial for the opening race on Gold Cup day in March.

Paul Nicholls's hurdler, having his first run for the champion trainer after a big-money transfer from France, sauntered away from his field, including the highly-touted Titan De Sarti, and is the new 8-1 favourite for the Triumph Hurdle.

This was the first success of Sam Winner's career after three second places at Auteuil, which does suggest that something better might yet arrive from across the Channel between now and March. For the moment, however, it will take a decent performance to dislodge him from the top of the Festival market.

"We've liked him from day one," Nicholls said, "and it was just a matter of getting him strong enough and forward enough to run today.

"He's having a good blow, which is a good sign, but he's been an awesome jumper since he first came in. The hurly-burly of the Triumph isn't going to worry him because he's a big horse [but] what I wouldn't do is risk him on fast ground."

Wayward Prince is generally unchanged at around 16-1 for the RSA Chase after justifying 9-4 favouritism for the Ultima Novice Chase, but Chicago Grey, from Gordon Elliott's yard in Ireland, looked to be going marginally better than the winner when he took a heavy fall at the second-last fence. Chicago Grey then brought down Beshabar and Christian Williams, who suffered a suspected fracture of his left arm in the fall and could be out of action for several weeks.

"I was initially disappointed with his jumping, but Dougie [Costello] came back in and said they just weren't going fast enough for him," Ian Williams, Wayward Prince's trainer, said. "There's still room for improvement, but he has done what he needed to."